Markus Wolf | Life | Career | Death | SpyMaster

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A Spymaster Of Spy Masters Mr. Markus Johannes "Mischa" Wolf lived his life from 19th January 1923 to 9th November 2006.

He was Chief of the Main Directorate for Reconnaissance (Hauptverwaltung Aufklärung or HVA) which was the foreign intelligence service of the former German Democratic Republic (GDR, "East Germany") and was an integral part of the GDR Ministry of State Security, commonly known as the Stasi. for 32 years he was the Stasi's number two, which cover most of the Cold War. He is known as greatest spymaster of all time.

Mr. Wolf was born on 19th January 1923 in Hechingen, Province of Baden-Württemberg, His father was a Jewish & his mother was Non-Jewish. He was a son of Friedrich Wolf who was a German Physician & Politically engaged writer. He has a younger brother who was an East German film director Konrad Wolf. His father was a member of the Communist Party of Germany, but later when Adolf Hitler came in power, Mr. Wolf moved to Moscow with his father Friedrich Wolf, through Switzerland & France, because of their Communist convictions & the other thing was that Wolf's father was Jewish.

During his deportation, Mr. Wolf first got addmision in the German Karl Liebknecht Schule & after that he attended a Russian school. Later, he entered the Moscow Institute of Airplane Engineering (Moscow Aviation Institute), which was shift to city Alma Ata after Germany's attack on the Soviet Union. There he was ordered to join the Communist International, in short Comintern, where he others were trained for undercover work behind enemy lines.

He was Sent to Berlin with Ulbricht Group right after the war. Walter Ulbricht was head of the Group, Mr. Wolf works for a radio station as a journalist in the Soviet Zone of occupation. He was one of those journalists who observed the entire Nuremberg city Trials against the principal Nazi leaders.

In 1953, wolf was working As Intelligence Chief, at that time he was 30 years old, the founding members of the foreign intelligence service which were the members of Ministry State Security. there as Chief he accomplish great success in entering into the government, political & corporate sector of West Germany with espionage. Günter Guillaume was the most significant person in this case, he was also secretary & a close friend of Willy Brandt a Chancellor in West Germany, In 1974 Willy Brandt's vulnerability as an East German agent led to Brandt's resignation.

Due to his elusiveness Mr. Wolf was known as "the man without a face" for most of his career. Its on record that Western agencies have not a single clue about the looks of the East German spy chief until 1978, nobody knows how he looked like, later while he was on offical visit to Sweden, the Sweden's National Security Service (SAPO) photographed him, after that they had a clear picture of him because of which Werner Stiller An East German defector, then identified Mr.Wolf to West German counter-intelligence as the man in the picture. Other rumors says that in 1959 the CIA had identified him from photographs of attendees at the Nuremberg trials.

In 1986 Mr. Wolf get retired and started to work of his late brother Konrad in writing the story of their childhood in 1930s when they were in Moscow. The launching of the book Troika was on the same day in East and West Germany. Mr.Werner Grobmann was his successor as head of the East German foreign intelligence service.

Mr.Wolf escape the country in September 1990, soon before German reunification, & request for political asylum in Russia & Austria. but it was denied, After that he came back to Germany he was arrested there by German police. Mr.Wolf claimed that he refused an offer from the Central Intelligence Agency to defect to the United States in return they can offer him "seven figures" salary, a new identity & a pent-house in the state of California.

In 1993 the Oberlandesgerich court of Düsseldorf found him guilty of treason, he was sentenced to six years imprisonment. This was later revoke by the German supreme court, because Mr.Wolf was acting from the region of the then-independent GDR. Then he was once again convicted of illegitimate custody harassment and bodily harm in 1997, & was given a suspended sentence of two years imprisonment. Later his punishment was extended to three days' imprisonment because he refuse to testify against Paul Gerhard Flämig (de). Flaming was the former West German (SPD) politician and was accused in 1993 of atomic espionage. but Mr.Wolf said that Flämig was not the agent that he remembers: Flämig had unknowingly been examine by intelligence agents during offical investigation in the GDR.

On 9thNovember he master of the spy masters Markus Johannes Wolf died in his bed during sleep at his Berlin Residence.